Album

Tangled Up

San Diego/Tijuana minimal garage rockers The Electric Healing Sound’s debut record, Tangled Up, draws instant and undeniable comparisons to The Velvet Underground, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and The Modern Lovers, in that order, with a hint of Wharton Tiers’ microtonal surf beneath trebled feedback and droning chords.

Released via Bandcamp in July, 2012, Tangled Up was recorded on reel-to-reel audio tape at Electric Orange Studios with Andrew Montoya (The Sess, Beaters, Ale Mania), who mixed and mastered the record at his studio, Pandemonium Recorders.

Shortly thereafter, the album was released on cassette via Ames, Iowa label Workerbee Records.

On the tailwinds of a recent West Coast tour with Cholo Punks label mates Shiva Trash, guitarist/vox Ricky Soltero chats with The Reader about crashing on couches, unlimited free beer, and the approximate value of pesos.

“The whole trip was an adventure - 8 human beings in one van, hoping to crash at peoples homes. We slept in some dude’s garage in Los Angeles. We slept in my friend’s small apartment in San Francisco. Random people invited us to their homes because they loved our bands! It was great.

“Seattle was fantastic. The people were so cool. During our performance, I made a joke about accepting pesos for our cassettes and some random dude came up to us, said how much he enjoyed the band, and gave us 500 pesos for one cassette, which I think roughly equals about 40 bucks or so!

“Sonoma was probably the best show of the tour. Not only did we show up late, but we were about to miss our window to play since they have a curfew. I guess it’s to avoid noise complaints. So we played a great set. People were screaming for an encore and they wouldn’t let us. In return, we got free beer - screw beer tickets! - I mean, unlimited beer the whole night!

“The funniest comments of the night were the comparisons to the Black Angels. Some dude said, ‘you guys sound like the black angels on cocaine.’

“San Francisco wasn’t too shabby either. Played in a space called the Rock Loft in North Beach. The guy who puts these shows together has done paintings for so many random rock stars, from Lou Reed to The Ramones. While we performed, he painted. He did Sterling Morrison from the Velvet Underground while we played our set! Nice guy. Jesse Mosher is his name. Awesome artist!”